European Consultation-Liaison Psychiatric Services: the ECLW Collaborative Study

OBJECTIVE: To describe the patterns of organization of consultation-liaison (C-L) services in 11 European countries in relation to hospital characteristics and national approaches to C-L psychiatry. METHOD: Cross-sectional survey. RESULTS: Services can best be described in terms of their size and seniority of their staff and whether or not they are multidisciplinary. Single-discipline services are based upon the standard medical consultant model, whereas those with multidisciplinary teams work in a way that is comparable with community mental health teams. German psychosomatic C-L services belonged to either model. National differences were found. CONCLUSION: This first international study provides empirical evidence for the wide variation in the organization of C-L services. In view of the increasing numbers of patients with psychiatric disorder who are being treated in general hospitals and the changing patterns of medical care there are important implications for clarification and improvement of the role of C-L services.

Keywords

Hospitais psiquiátricos Serviços de saúde mental Europa Consultation-liaison psychiatry Psiquiatria de ligação

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.10/632

Citation

Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2000 May;101(5):360-6

Publisher

Wiley

Collections

PSIQ - Artigos publicados em revistas não indexadas

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